Show ASPHALT AND bituminous ROCK in the june issue of mines arid and minerals of scranton pa is an abstract on asphalt an and d bituminous rock prepared by prof arthur lakes from the authoritative work of the united states survey compiled by george H eldridge this article after going exhaustively into the varieties of hydrocarbons and their 1 zab 7 14 7 triassic rock surrounding a Cultivated Area in the green river desert utah compounds makes mention of the localities in which they are found paying special attention to the colorado and utah asphaltum fields as follows in colorado there is a bituminous zone in the book cliff region from 20 to feet thick consisting of porous sandstones and fine conglomerates of the upper wasatch berti tertiary ary saturated with bituminous matter the sandstone rock has a brown appearance and when broken emits a petroleum smell on digging a little way in into the vein it becomes fatty with liquid bitu minum A good exposure occurs between rifle creek station and biance creek about 20 miles north of the rio grande railroad at rifle the deposit is not at present worked for paving or oth other er purposes for which bituminous rock is used but will probably soon be developed by drilling in search of petroleum narrow veins of gilsonite or asphalt occur near the same locality in the overlying green river in middle park colorado gilsonite veins vein s occur on upper willow creek in the denver tertiary or post laramie series which is here feet thick the vein occurs amidst alternating clays sandstones and conglomerates the stratas are folded thus opening cracks that have been filled with asphalt in very irregular veins from a few inches to 6 feet in width in all formations made up of and sandstones in which shale predominates fissures and their contained veins are liable to be very irregular instead of a single fracture there may be several of an individual nature within a fractured zone the materials of an nature within the confines of utah are gilsonite ni grite bituminous limestone and sandstones maltha petroleum seeps from the ground in in scattered localities showing a general dis trib ution of hydrocarbons under a large area in colorado and northwestern utah and just beyond in the western edge of colorado an area of square miles occupying the uinta basin there is gilsonite in the eastern portion and in the southern portion of the uinta reservation and digrite occur near soldiers summit station on the rio grande western railroad and limestone between spanish fork and strawberry creeks bituminous are broadly distributed the interior of the uinta basin is a shallow synclinal depression composed of tertiary sandstones and eroded into lofty table tabie lands and castles green river and uinta river divide the country iao flowing wing in p profound canyons the basin is the seat seal of a large number of small vertical cracks filled with asphalt ites from a few inches to 18 feet wide and from a few hundred hundred yards to 8 or 10 miles in length the sur su face length of a vein does not necessarily 1 indicate its extent in depth it may be b much deeper or much shorter than its surface showing would imply lateral fissures ramifying from a main fissure may inay occur filled with gilsonite or gilsonite is is a black tarry looking substance of bril biant luster home homogenous genous texture and very brittle with fracture in mining it gives off a fine brown dust genetra pe netra ting the skin and lungs the largest gilsonite veins are three miles east of fort duchesne a second in upper evacuation creek and two on white river on the colorado and utah line A fourteen inc inch h vein occurs near the junction of greer green and white rivers another f four our miles northwest of ouray agency arid and a number of small ones between willow creek and white river the vein at fort duchesne has been worked for several years and is opened to a depth of feet the vein is traceable three miles maintaining a width of three to four feet for a mile and diminishing after this I 1 each way section a fig 2 the culmer vein in the castle creek min min ing district is traced across the desert seven miles its width is from one inch to thirty inches average eight to eighteen inches the zone in which it occurs is fractured for a width of feet the rock is gray green and 0 purple sandstone and shale of the i 4 aa g 7 yera 1 Z n E 77 carboniferous strata containing gypsum beds green river desert utah uinta washakie and bridger bridge r forma i eions the fariette Pa riette mine is being eap exp exploited i the most important locality of gilsonite is the region north of white river near the eastern edge of utah here are three paral lel lei veins cutting the heavy sandstones of the bridger series the structure of the principal vein is massive but on the outcrop shows minute colens like rows of s slate at pencils the veins are traceable sever seven miles the outcrops are plainly indicated by a broad swath of scant vegetation the same vein in colorado is two miles long and about thirty inches wide it has been worked to a depth of feet the openings are on the ridge between evacuation creek and white river the cowboy vein is the largest on white river being eighteen feet thick and maintaining a width of twelve feet for four miles and four feet for six miles it is well ex posed in the hat shaped butte in coyote basin the veins are apt to be well defined in the coarse sandstone and to disappear in the hard calcareous section b fig 2 in white river canyon a gilsonite vein occurs traceable a mile three feet thick another important vein is the black dragon on upper evacuation creek traceable four miles and three to four feet thick up to nine feet section c fig 2 the gilsonite appears to have found its way into the fissures in a plastic state ascending from below under pressure it is mined by pick and shovel lolae a b 0 AND fig 2 section of asphalt veins a fort duschene vein b cowboy vein nein c black diamond vein nein the dust in mining is annoying and explosive it can be removed from the skin by use of kerosene oil it is estimated that the mines are cap able of producing the following tonnages ton nages cowboy tons bonanza tons black dragon tons making a total of tons add to this the duchesne tons and the culmer vein in colorado the total of the colorado utah veins would be about tons the ne region is at present deficient in rail way transportation but this may soon be feme remedied died by the advent of the maffat rail road at present the product of the colo 6 rado mines is shipped by wagon via meeker to P on the denver rio grande railroad miles the deposit of evacuation creek would be the nearest if a good road could be es over the book cliff barrier cost of freighting the duchesne and culi mer products is W 10 to 15 per ton railway freight to st louis 8 per ton total cost of mining and placing material in chicago arst or st louis 25 per ton present price in chicago 49 to 50 leaving a net profit of 10 to 20 the advent of a railroad will materially alter things |